Melancon v. State Bd. of Ed.

• Decision Date: 20 February 1967
• Docket Number: No. 48182,48182
• Citation: 195 So.2d 289,250 La. 337
• Parties: Howard Charles MELANCON et al. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION et al.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 289

195 So.2d 289

250 La. 337

Howard Charles MELANCON et al. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION et al.

No. 48182.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Feb. 20, 1967.

Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., Harry Fuller, Second Asst. Atty. Gen., Willie D. Maynor, Special Counsel to the Atty. Gen., for defendants-appellants.

Domengeaux, Wright & Bienvenu, James Domengeaux, Lafayette, for plaintiffs-respondents.

SANDERS, Justice.

The question posed by this appeal is whether the Louisiana State Board of Education can establish an 'education center' of the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Iberia Parish, without special legislative authorization.

In 1965, the State Board of Education adopted a resolution establishing the Education Center of the University of Southwestern Louisiana near New Iberia in Iberia Parish. On the petition of eleven interested taxpayers of Lafayette Parish, where the University is located, the district court held the resolution violated Article IV, Section 14, of the Louisiana Constitution and permanently enjoined the Board from establishing the Center. The State Board of Education appealed to this Court. Plaintiffs moved to dismiss the appeal, contending this Court lacked appellate jurisdiction. We maintained the appeal. See Melancon v. State Board of Education, 249 La. 604, 188 So.2d 419.

Act No. 162 of 1898 created Southwestern Industrial Institute and provided for its location as follows:

'Said Institute shall be known as the 'Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute,' and shall be located in that parish of the 13th Senatorial District which will offer the best inducement therefor to the Board of Trustees, said location to be made by the Board to be appointed under this act, provided that the parish selected for the location of said Institution shall donate not less than twenty-five acres of land and Five Thousand Dollars to said Institution * * *'

Pursuant to the Act, the Board of Trustees considered locations at Lafayette in Lafayette Parish and at New Iberia in Iberia Parish. During a meeting of the Board of Trustees on January 3 and 4, 1900, the Board located the Institute at Lafayette.

Article XII, Section 9 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1921 placed the Institute under supervision of the State Board of Education and changed its name to Southwestern Louisiana Institute of Liberal and Technical learning. Later, Act No. 123 of 1960 changed the name to the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

At its meeting on October 14, 15, and 16, 1965, the State Board of Education considered a proposal to establish an education center or branch of the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Iberia Parish. The original proposal read in part:

'The administration of the University of Southwestern Louisiana recommends that a lower division, or College of General Studies, be established at the former Naval Auxiliary Air Station near New Iberia. The College of General Studies should be a junior division which offers the first year's work of baccalaureate programs and one- and two-year technical curricula, the latter leading to certificates or to Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees.

'The College of General Studies will be headed by a vice-president, who will answer directly to the president of the University. This branch of the University will consist of three divisions, the Division of Academic Studies, the Division of Technical Studies, and the Division of Student Services. Each division will be administered by a dean. Further, while each division will be independent of the several colleges and departments of the University, each will coordinate activities with University Counterparts and related units.'

The State Board of Education adopted the proposal by resolution in the following language:

'* * * (T)he Board approved the plan as outlined in the first 100 pages of the proposal of the University of Southwestern Louisiana concerning the New Iberia property, with the use of present facilities only, with the proviso that in any place in the proposal where the words 'Branch' or 'Lower Division' or 'College' appear that the words 'Education Center' be substituted, and wherever the word 'Dean' appears, the word 'Director' is to be substituted, and wherever the word 'Division' appears, the word 'Department' is to be substituted; this proposal subject to the approval and advice of the Board's attorney, the Attorney General of the State of Louisiana, relative to all legal technicalities.'

Plaintiffs assert the resolution established an educational institution without special legislative authorization in violation of Article IV, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution, which provides:

'No educational or charitable institution, other than the State institutions now existing, or expressly provided for in this Constitution, shall be established by the State, except upon a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the Legislature.'

The State Board of Education, on the other hand, contends the resolution established no new institution but merely expanded the University across the parish line by adding to it an education center, to be operated as an integral part of the existing institution. Hence, the State Board reasons, the constitutional provision is inapplicable.

In a well-reasoned opinion, the district court held the Center was an educational institution...